Ad Hoc Alliances as Italian Key Statecraft Tool

Abstract

Despite economic troubles and constant political instability Italy manages to keep its historical role as a key EU state and one of the three major economies of the region, which justifies its G7 membership and therefore formally endues it with a great power status. This owes to accommodationism as the main behavioral pattern since the establishment of the Italian Republic and the skillful use of ad hoc alliances – a pragmatic statecraft tool which renders Italy flexible and unpredictable. Too big to be defensive, but not big enough to be offensive, Italy does not provoke antagonism in any EU country, becoming a potential universal ally. Cooperation with Greece on fiscal flexibility, with Spain and France on coronabonds and Hungary on EU common migration policy strengthens its bargaining power in the EU, since the latter needs Italy for reasons of security and solidarity. Being furthermore a devoted US partner since the end of World War II, Italy considers US a guarantor of its national security and position on the international arena and is inclined to lend its support to Washington even if such actions contradict the policies of closer geostrategic partners in the EU. Thanks to such allegiance Italy manages to preserve a certain room for maneuvering in interactions with other non­euroatlantic partners to an extent that does not imperil its strategic alliance with Washington, which has always been an invariable of Italian foreign policy. However, scarce attention from the USA under the current administration makes Italy utilize its statecraft tools towards Washington as well, and a pragmatic rapprochement with China on the Belt and Road Initiative and humanitarian aid during the pandemic presents a clear example thereof.